A BRIEF LESSON IN IMMIGRATION HISTORY FOR SPEAKER PAUL RYAN

November 2, 2015

Speaker Paul Ryan yesterday reassured his extremist conservatives that immigration reform will not happen under his watch – reusing that same, tired excuse during an appearance on ABC's "This Week":

"I do not believe we should and we won't bring immigration legislation with a president we cannot trust on this issue." [11/1]

Americans know what Mr. Ryan really meant to say: that extremist, radical GOP Members still control the gavel, and so it's easier to simply blame President Obama for the GOP's failure to join Democrats in providing a fix to our broken immigration system. Speaker Ryan – here's a brief lesson in history. As Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren stated in an op-ed last year:

"Some Republicans claim the President has no authority to act, but they are wrong. The fact is, just as presidents before him, President Obama has broad authority to make our immigration system better meet the needs of our country and reflect our shared values. And every Administration since President Dwight D. Eisenhower has used executive authority to do just that."

Republican Presidents Who Took Executive Actions on Immigration:

GOP President Dwight D. Eisenhower – 1956-1959

GOP President Richard Nixon – 1970s

GOP President Gerald Ford – 1975

GOP President Ronald Reagan – 1980s

GOP President George H.W. Bush – 1990s

GOP President George W. Bush – 2000s

Anti-Immigration Actions by House Republicans in the 114th Congress:

House Republicans vote on Rep. Robert Aderholt's anti-immigrant amendment preventing the use of any funds for President Obama's executive actions. [1/14/2015]

House Republicans vote for Rep. Marsha Blackburn's anti-immigrant amendment preventing DREAMers from renewing their DACA applications. [1/14/2015]

House Republicans vote for an amendment offered by Rep. Mo Brooks preventing the Department of Defense from considering the enlistment and service of DREAMers into the Armed Forces. [5/14/2015]

House Republicans vote for Steve King's anti-immigrant amendment prohibiting the Department of Justice from spending any money to defend the President executive actions in the Texas v. U.S. [6/3/2015]

House Republicans vote for another amendment offered by anti-immigrant Steve King preventing state and local law enforcement from obtaining federal grants if they have community trust policies in place. [6/3/2015]

Anti-Immigration Actions by House Republicans in the 113th Congress:

House Republicans pass Rep. Steve King's anti-immigrant amendment. [6/6/13]

House Republicans again pass another measure attacking DREAMers. [3/12/14]

House GOP passes another anti-immigrant Steve King amendment targeting the undocumented community. [5/29/14]

The former Speaker John Boehner bows down to House extremists, paves way for passage of another anti-immigrant measure allowing for massive deportations of DREAMers. [8/1/14]

Broken Promises on Immigration From Speaker Ryan's Predecessor:

11/8/12: Speaker Boehner says he's "confident" Congress will pass comprehensive immigration reform, describing it as "an important issue that…ought to be dealt with."

1/26/13: Speaker Boehner tells Ripon Society, a Republican public policy organization, that "it's time to deal" with immigration reform.

5/23/13: With progress taking place in the Senate on CIR, Speaker Boehner says: "The House remains committed to fixing our broken immigration system….the House will work its will…"

6/11/13: Another Speaker Boehner promise: "I think by the end of the year, we'll have an [immigration reform] bill."

7/8/13: After he refuses a vote on bipartisan, Senate-passed reform, Speaker Boehner says: "It is time for Congress to act. But I believe the House has its job to do, and we will do our job."

7/23/13: Speaker Boehner claims "Nobody has spent more time trying to fix a broken immigration system than I have."

11/13/13: Confronted by teens, Speaker Boehner pledges to "find a way" to get immigration reform "done."

11/21/13: Speaker Boehner insists that immigration is "absolutely not" dead.

1/30/14: Speaker Boehner and House GOP release their now-abandoned, so-called "immigration standards."

4/17/14: Speaker Boehner tells a group of donors he's "hell-bent on getting [immigration reform] done this year."

4/24/14: Boehner mocks GOP Members for failing to take up immigration: "Here's the attitude – Ohhh, don't make me do this. Ohhh, this is too hard."

5/22/14: Boehner tells Univision's Jorge Ramos: "There's nobody more interested in fixing [immigration] than I am."

9/3/14: The Speaker reports to Hugh Hewitt that "You know, there's a possibility that Congress could take this issue up next year."

9/18/14: At the American Enterprise Institute, Boehner says the immigration system "needs to be fixed. We're a nation of immigrants, the sooner we do it, the better off the country would be."

9/28/14: More of the Speaker's lip service – "I said the day after the 2012 election it was time to do immigration reform. I meant it then and I mean it today."

11/6/14: Speaker Boehner says: "It is time for the Congress of the United States to deal with a very difficult issue in our society. This immigration issue has become a political football over the last ten years or more. It is just time to deal with it."

7/3/15: Addressing a crowd in Ireland, Speaker Boehner vows to "overcome Republican resistance to immigration reform."

7/12/15: On CBS' ‘Face the Nation,' Speaker Boehner tells John Dickerson: "I've been trying to do immigration reform for four years…I want to do immigration reform…"

Speaker Ryan also recently said this about Republicans: "we are not solving problems, we're adding to them." Well, instead of adding to the pile like he did by dumping the lame, recycled, eye-rolling excuse that Americans have heard for far too long, he should join Democrats immediately and act to fix our broken system now.